Saturday, March 3, 2012

"(Beirut) – Emirati authorities should retract their decision to cancel the residency permits of dozens of Syrians who took part in a peaceful protest against the Syrian government in Dubai, Human Rights Watch said today.

In the weeks following the demonstration, on February 10, 2012, United Arab Emirates (UAE) security officials called in for questioning hundreds of Syrian nationals suspected of attending the unlicensed demonstration. The UAE government later revoked the residency permits of about 50 of them, some of the protesters and Syrian community leaders in the UAE told Human Rights Watch.

“The UAE calls on Syrian President Assad to respect the right of peaceful protesters, yet it is expelling Syrians from its country for exercising this basic right,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “These expulsions show that Emirati authorities are intolerant of any protest or expression of dissent on UAE soil even if it is not geared toward them.”....."